Words of challenge to begin this Leading the Way audio episode from pastor and author Dr. Michael Youssef. When people listen to you, do they hear the words of thanksgiving out of your mouth? Do they sense the attitude of gratitude coming out of you? Do they feel the presence of God permeating all of your life?
Do they hear the music of joy? Do they hear the excitement of your faith? Today, join Dr. Yusuf in 2 Samuel 22. That's in the Old Testament, where you'll get a front-row seat to King David's song about God's faithfulness.
This is a song reflecting on his life and And it's a reminder that you have a life song too. Listen now to Dr. Michael Youssef as he begins the teaching portion of this episode of Leading the Way. I read a story about How in the year 1900 the city of Galveston, Texas. Was swept by a tidal wave that caused a great deal of damage, not just in property, but in life.
that devastated that city.
Soon afterward, The city fathers brought together a brilliant engineer. A man who is renowned in his abilities. And they hired him to design a sea wall that would withstand any future storms. And this brilliant engineer was told That's safety and not cost. are to be his primary consideration.
So by 1904 the project was completed. The wall consisted of a massive barricade of five miles long, and seventeen feet high above the tide. It was that engineer's crowning achievement. He proudly declared that the fiercest gale would never affect that fortress. Few years later, he was in Alaska working on another project.
While in the middle of that project he receives a cable, he receives a telegram, and the telegram said. Another fierce Gail came across. and devastated Galveston and knocked down and demolished the wall that you have built. He turned to his associate. And he was stunned.
He was numb. And he said, it's impossible. It is impossible. I built it to stand. There has to be some mistake.
Mm-hmm. And sure enough, It was an error. The telegram came By somebody who panicked. and did not have all the facts. As a matter of fact, today that sea walls still stand as firm as the rock of Gibraltar.
And as I read this, and I wondered in my own mind aloud, how many of us. As soon as we face life storms, We panic and begin to think the worst. And God looks down and He says, it is impossible. It is impossible for you to perish because I am your rock and your shelter. How many of us, as soon as we see the first sign of a gale in our life, we begin to lose confidence in the God of our salvation, in the rock of ages.
And God looks down and He says, It is impossible, it is impossible, for I am your hiding place. How many times, as soon as you see lightning in the sky of our lives, we begin to panic and push the panic button and feel that the ground is shifting from under us. And God says, It is impossible, it is impossible for you to perish, for you are in the very palms of my hands. How many of us, the moment we see the waves beginning to cover us and the waves begin to rise, and we feel overwhelmed by these waves of the sea, and falsely cable God and said, God, it's all over. And yet, God looks down and He says, It is impossible for you to drown, because I am your anchor and I am your rudder.
As we conclude the series of sermons, A portrait of a champion. We are going to see how God's champion has a sacred song. And I want to ask you from the very beginning of this time: do you have a sacred song? Do you have a sacred song? And if you don't, I pray that before you leave this place today, say, God, give me a sacred song.
God wants to give you a sacred song. David's sacred song is found in Psalm 18. In fact, Psalm 18 and 2 Samuel 22, if you put them together, especially in the original in Hebrew, and you begin to compare them, they're very similar. Many scholars have thought there are two different versions of the same song, be that as it may. David, God's champion, had a sacred song.
Do you have a sacred song? By that do I mean that when people listen to you, when people hear you speak, do they hear the sounds of praise from your lips? When people listen to you, do they hear the words of thanksgiving out of your mouth? Do they sense the attitude of gratitude coming out of you? Do they feel the presence of God permeating all of your life?
Do they hear the music of joy? Do they hear the excitement of your faith? Do people, when they hear you speak, See that you have unshaken confidence in the God of Jacob and the God of Israel and the God of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do they see the shekanah glory on your face? Do they perceive that you have the peace that passes understanding in the midst of all the storms of life?
Do you have a sacred song? There are people whom you don't want to say good morning to. Or how are you? out of fear that they will see that as an opportunity. Or an invitation to tell you about all the wrong things that are going on, and about how everything is wrong, how bad everything is, how terrible things have been, how their third cousin, 20 times removed, has really not done the right thing by them, and how they're much suffering in this world, and how nobody cares about them.
But David Had a sacred song. You know somebody did a study of how the birds, different birds, react in a rainstorm. The duck. is indifferent to rainstorms. Totally oblivious to it.
The chicken, on the other hand, is the most miserable bird in a rainstorm. I mean literally very miserable. But do you know that the robin sings in the rain? In fact, the robin saves its sweetest note to the most raging part of the storm.
So, I wanted to ask yourself today. Are you a duck, chicken or a robin? Don't raise your hands. Go home and tell your friends and family. God's champion had a sacred song.
What about you? Rightly, David could testify in Psalm 34 and verse 19, many are the affliction of the righteous, but you know, most miserable people stop at this particular word. They never continue the rest of the text. And the rest of the text said, the Lord delivers him from them all. That is the full text.
That is the testimony of David. From being hunted down like a wild animal by King Saul, all the way to being thrown out of the palace by a coup d'état that was led by his rebellious son Absalom, all the way from running into the land of the Philistines, into his enemy's camp, to being home and being ridiculed and humiliated by his wife Michael. All of these storms in life he felt and experienced, but he always had a sacred song. And you might feel harassed by the enemy of God. You might feel harassed by Satan.
You may be feeling today that the walls are closing in on you. And you may be feeling that the tunnel is so long and dark, and there's no light at the end of it. You may be feeling today that you are in a Prolonged Spiritual drought. Or you may be feeling like David once felt. He said, Look, I'm going to die under the hand of Saul anyway.
Might as well go into the Philistine hand, and he thought he could run away. But in reality, the rock and the shelter kept David in the hollow of his hand. The rock and the shelter keeps you in the hollow of his hand. In reality, the shield and the buckler was wrapped tight around him that nothing could harm him. In reality, God is infinitely mightier than all of your problems.
He's infinitely mightier than all of your diseases. He's infinitely mightier than all of your circumstances. Amen. Belongs here. That's the kind of God that David believed in.
Many times David reacted without inquiring of the Lord. Many times David reacted without seeking the will of God. And you know how he paid so dearly for that. You know that. We've seen that.
There's one thing about this man of God. There's one thing about this man of whom God himself said that I have searched the heart of David and I found it after my own heart. There's one thing about this man and it is this, that he always wanted to please the Lord. And that was the desire of his heart. Listen to me, please.
It doesn't matter how much theological language you know. It doesn't matter how many activities you are involved in. God is looking down at the desire of your heart. And he knows the very desire of your heart. You could fumble and you could stumble and you could fall on your face.
But if your desire is to honor God, I want to tell you that God's hand that upheld David through the storms will uphold you. That God's hand that surrounded David and protected David will protect you. In fact, as if you look at this particular chapter, chapter 22. Not one time do you find in that sacred song Nowhere you get the hint that David was trying to get any of the credit himself. Not one time.
You never get the impression that all You know, God gave me my mind and I am under responsibility to use it, and I used it cleverly, I might add. No. You don't get a hint of that here. You never get the sense that it was my military strategy plus God's help. made a good formula.
You never get the hint here that it is my perseverance with God's grace I was able to do it. No. Not one time did you see him say, well, it was my willing heart and it was God's help that did it. No, no, no. None of that is here.
David gives the credit, all the credit, the full credit to where it due, to where it belongs, and that is to God.
Well, after this brief introduction, I get to the text. Turn with me, please, if you haven't already. To chapter 22 of 2 Samuel. Chapter 22, look at verse 2. The beginning of that song, that sacred song that God gives to all of His champions.
He says, the Lord is my rock and my fortress. and my deliverer. Watch the personal pronouns here. In verses 2 and 3. They at least Mentioned nine times.
Now, if you have a pencil and you want to mark them, mark them, and if you found more, please let me know. I only mark nine. Nine of them. My rock, my salvation, my, my, nine times. What a privilege.
What a privilege to be able to call God my God. Listen to me, I was having one of those debates with an apostate bishop of the church, and we were talking, and he said to me with anger, he said, You evangelicals, talk about Jesus as your personal Savior and your personal Lord and your personal this, as if he's my personal card or my personal possession. I didn't know what to say. The Lord gave me the words, I'm sure. His idea of God is that He's out there somewhere, that He's out there somewhere, He put it all together and it's taken care of itself.
He has no personal relationship with God. He has no personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And the saddest thing about this man is that he could never call God my rock and my salvation. He could not call God my fortress and my deliverer. He could not call God the horn of my salvation.
Why? Because he never had that relationship with him. Listen to me. It is an unspeakable joy. To be able to call the God of the universe my daddy.
Listen. If you cannot do that, and if you don't get excited about it, there's something wrong with you. You see, David. Just remember how he's writing this. For many years he spent hiding in the crags and in the mountains and the rocks.
Hiding from Saul. And he will go behind this rock, and he goes behind this stone, and he goes behind this cave. And therefore he can see. He can relate that language to the spiritual warfare. He sees these places that were places of hiding, places of concealment, places of security, places of protection.
From the hand of the enemy. And he compares those with God's spiritual provision for him. He compares those with the spiritual places of hiding, with the spiritual places of. Concealment and security and protection, and that is why he gets so excited and he says, God is my shelter. Did you know that God is your shelter from the slandering tongues of others?
Did you know that God is your rock from the storms of criticism and the storms of rejection in life? Did you know that your God is a hiding place from the vicious attack of those who hate you? Did you know that God is your shelter from the burning sun of malice? Did you know that God is your fortress from the fiery darts that the enemy is constantly sending your way? Did you know that your God is your strength?
He is your empower against temptation. Did you know that? David knew that. That is why he could say, God is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. When all of Israel was shaking in their boots, When King Saul was sitting there hiding.
From Goliath. Mm-hmm. David stood on the rock of ages. And he said, to Goliath Big boy. Let me tell you something.
You come to me with a sword and a javelin and a spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. Yeah. They're not the armies of Saul, just in case you're mistaken. They are the armies of the God of Israel.
Now We have seen that David had many faults, he had many frailties, David with all of his weaknesses, David with all of his impulsiveness. He was the same David who believed that his God is a God of power and might. That David believed that his God was the God who says and it is. He believed that his God was in control of all circumstances in life. He believed that his God is the God of the supernatural.
He believed that his God is the God who opened a highway in the middle of the Red Sea. He believed that his God was the one who put all the galaxies in the orbits. And he could do anything. Anything. I want you to listen carefully.
When God lays something on your heart to pray for, I don't care how much the world says impossible, you pray for it. Because I believe this with all of my heart, God never fails those who truly exercise faith in Him. I am yet to see it happen once, not once. As our rock He upholds us and supports us. as we put our hope on his word.
He will steady us in the days of the earthquake. As our rock He keeps us together. from the storms that often blows our way. As our rock, he will hold us together when the wind blows at our face. As our rock, he will stick to us closer than a brother.
As our rock, he will keep us firm in the face of thunder and lightning. Then he said, He is my rock, he is my fortress. As our fortress, he will give you shelter from your assailants. As your fortress, he will blunt the attack of the enemy's spears. As your fortress, he will bear the brunt of your enemies pounding on you.
As your fortress, he will secure you from your enemy's hand. He is my rock, he is my fortress, and he is my deliverer. Do you know how He delivers you from? Do you know what He delivers me from? He delivers us from ourselves.
And I thank him for that. God redeems us. from the ravaging powers of sin. God rescues us from the roaring lion. And God secures us against the second death.
Glory to God. Do you have a sacred song? David had a sacred song. Look at verse 3. God is my rock in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield, the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge, and my savior. From violent men, you save me.
Now you know what David is doing here in verse 3, don't you? He is piling up the metaphor. He's just piling them up. He said, if you are too slow, to get that part about the rock and the fortress. And the deliverance.
He said, Let me tell you some more things. If you missed it this way, you might not miss it in verse 3. He is the home of my salvation and the high tower. You know, David, I am convinced as he was writing these words under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I am convinced he was saying.
God is sufficient to meet your every need. God is sufficient. to meet all of your unexpected God is sufficient to To meet all of your emergencies. God is sufficient to meet all of your circumstances. No matter how.
Grim the prospect may become, no matter how numerous and how powerful your foes and your enemies may become. In Christ Jesus, listen to me. In Christ Jesus, God revealed to us once and for all that He is the conqueror of sin, that He is the vanquisher of death, that He is the master of Satan, that He is the Lord of the universe, that He is the authority over your disease and your sickness, that He is the defender of the weak, that He is the power over fear, that He is the master over the storm, that He is the provider of all of your needs. He is my shield. With which I am able to ward off the enemy's attack.
He is my shield. who stand interposed between me and my enemy. He is the horn of my salvation. by which I push down my enemy, and be victorious over him. And be triumphant over him.
He is my high tower, the citadel that is placed upon a high eminence beyond the reach of my enemy.
So I can look down upon him and have no fear because he can't touch me. He is my Savior, in whom all evil is exposed. He is my refuge. And the shelter. who shelters me during the storm.
And that is why In verse four, David could say Look at the verse with me. I have a reason for asking you to look at the verse with me. Verse four. He said, I will call upon the Lord. Who is worthy to be praised?
So shall I be saved from my enemies? Listen carefully. He did not say, so I hope to be saved from my enemy. No. He did not say, so that I wish that I could be saved from my enemy.
That doesn't take faith. That doesn't take faith. His faith was so short. Shall I be saved from my enemies? Dr.
Michael Usak, with a compelling conclusion to his series. David. Portrait of a champion. This is leading the way. Want to know more about Doctor Youssef and the Worldwide Ministry of Leading the Way?
Give us a call at 866-6666. six two six four three five six. or click on over to ltw.org. The Middle East is home to 68% of the world's unreached people groups. Since leading the way first began impacting the Middle East through dual-language audio programs in 1996.
The ministry has had unique access to one of the most challenging regions in the world. Growing up in the Middle East, I grew up hearing. That Islam will dominate the world sooner or later. God began to burden my heart that the answer is not fear, is not anger, it's not retaliation, it is not frustration, but proclamation. Leading the Way's open door campaign is continuing to focus on three strategic areas where the greatest need and opportunity exists.
God has given Leading the Way an unprecedented open door to proclaim the gospel directly into this region. Join Dr. Yousuf and go through the open door of opportunity to reach these people for Christ through leading the way.
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